King Shag & Epicuro

Posted August 8th, 2008 by Meg

Friday night my roommate and I opened a bottle of 2006 King Shag Sauvignon Blanc. Yes, it is a bottle of wine that can be found at Trader Joe’s for under ten dollars. That is the way we roll here in our Brentwood abode…

I am only recently learning to love white wines, so everything is new and exciting for me. I have learned quite a few interesting facts about sauvignon blancs: Made from green-grapes originating from Bordeaux and the Loire Valley regions of France. The grape gets its name from the French word sauvage (”wild”) and blanc (”white”) due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in South West France. During the 18th century, the vine was paired with a Cabernet Franc and gave birth a good friend of mine: Ca bernet Sauvignon. California is the leading producer in North America. When it came to California, it acquired the marketing name change to Fumé Blanc under the initiative of Robert Mondavi in effort to avoid prejudices held at that time against sauvignon blanc (grassy flavor, aggressive aroma). It is usually consumed young, as it does not particularly benefit from aging (inappropriate joke goes here). It can sometimes be recognized by its typical smell that reminds one of cat’s urine (which would not stop me anyway, and doesn’t stop most people apparently.)

King Shag is named after a rare bird species endemic to New Zealand, which really is not a coincidence because the wine is made in the subregion, Marlborough, in the South Island of New Zealand. I am willing to bet money that the image on the bottle is of the King Shag himself.

My opinion: Smooth, tart, tannic, and a citrus sweet finish. I taste lime and grapefruit.

I don’t love it, but it’s still good. I would be willing to drink it again and maybe even purchase more at some point in time.

Because we weren’t drunk enough..

My roommate and I opened another bottle of wine. It was also from Trader Joe’s for under ten dollars. King Shag was our last bottle of white wine, so red was our only option. We decided on the Riserva 2004 Epicuro Italian Red Wine.

Although you can’t really see the label in the picture, it says: Salice Salentino Denominazione Di Origine Controllata Red Wine. Salice Salentino is the name of the wine, but it is also named after the town it is produced in, the Apulia region of Italy. Apulia is in the heel of the Italian boot. (”Denominazione di origine controllata” translates to English as “appellation of origin” which is referring to Salice Salentino.) The grapes used in this bottle are 80% Negroamaro and 20% Malvasia Nera. The negroamaro grapes dominate the vineyards in Salice Salentino. I find the name, negroamaro, very interesting because they are used to describe the characteristics of the grape, but depending on the language used, you can come up with different translations. Negro translates to black, but amaro adds some confusion. Amaro in Italian translates to ‘bitter,’ but it has been suggested that the name derives from Greek word “manu” which also translates to black. Not that this is important at all, I just think it’s kind of cool. There is also an Italian rock band named after the grapes too, Negroamaro.

My opinion: medium bodied, spicy, berry taste, and a warm finish that hugged my heart.

My roommate picked up more specific tastes such as gameyness, smokiness, and in particular lingonberries, which is not a berry I am familiar with so I couldn’t truly accept. But, now that I know of these little cranberry-looking berries, I will try to become more familiar with them. Overall, I enjoyed it and would not be hesitant drink it again.